Quadcopter Control Algorithms in the event of Loss of One of the Actuators: A Review

Abstract

There are increasing needs to develop reliable control systems that can be used to automatically stabilize a Quadcopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) when one of the four rotors is under fault. A fault tolerant mechanism that extends the capabilities of the quadcopter system to operate under the presence of faults is of interest to the research community. The quadcopter UAV is a great platform for control systems research as its nonlinear nature and under-actuated configuration makes it ideal to analyze control algorithms. The nonlinearity is even further pronounced when there is an actuator fault. This review gives an overview of Quadcopter UAV dynamic system. Considering a single actuator fault scenario, applicable algorithms are analyzed highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. The algorithms include PID control, Gain-Scheduling PID, Linear Quadratic control, Backstepping, Feedback linearization, Sliding Mode control, Model Predictive control and Model Reference Adaptive Controller. The conclusion of this work is a proposal of combination of positive attributes of each algorithm to compensate for the limitations of the other.